A Paradoxal Mistake
by roar sora
Summary: When Kagome's three friends Eri, Ayumi and Yuka come to visit and study with her at the shrine, one of them takes a peculiar interest in the small jar of pink jewel shards on Kagome's computer desk.
1. Discover

**A Paradoxal Mistake**

**Summary: **When Kagome's three friends Eri, Ayumi and Yuka come to visit and study with her at the shrine, one of them takes a peculiar interest in the small jar of pink jewel shards on Kagome's computer desk.

**A/N: **Meh, I'm not quite sure what I'm doing with this, was just an idea to play with. Chapter length may vary, but expect short ones – so perhaps a drabble.

_Chapter One: Discover_.

It was falling into the late afternoon on a particularly lazy day. It was the day after one of their major examinations in math studies, leaving Kagome some amount of time in the future. She had requested her usual three days off, one to study, one to take the exam, and one to see her friends and restock on medicinal supply and ninja food for her feudal friends. Currently she was on day three and the sun was beginning to stray low in the sky, cascading all shades of yellow and orange across the concrete pathways of the ancient shrine that her family lived in.

"Was that math exam hard or _what_?" Yuka groaned, tossing her head back and running her fingertips through her hair making sure to use her fingernails on her scalp. Releasing a pleasurable sigh after wards, she replaced her disarrayed yellow headband and shot a glance towards Kagome. As per usual one sat on the bed, one in the chair at the desk and two upon the tatami flooring.

"Yeah," chimed in two of three remaining girls, the silent one tilting her head and arching a curious brow at her friends.

"You guys thought it was hard?" Ayumi asked a little dumb founded, as though the exam had been the easiest test in the whole of all examinations.

Kagome's face blanched at her intelligent female comrade and she shook her head, truly wishing that exams came to her so easily. Being in the feudal era for the majority of her days and feigning illness to her friends really had lowered her education standards. If she passed this exam with a mildly satisfactory grade she would jump for joy, however with the questions that she barely understood yesterday it was likely that that was not going to be the case. In order to change the subject, Kagome stood from her place on her computer chair and clapped her hands together cheerfully. "I will get tea before you have to leave." With that she vanished out of her incredibly pink bedroom.

Yuka raised both eyebrows and frowned. "Y'think Kagome did well on that exam even with all of her sicknesses this month?" She gossiped, taking a good hard look around the room to avoid the looks her friends would give her for predicting Kagome's bad grade. Her risen eyebrows lowered and furrowed at the sight of something glimmering in the fading sunlight on the desk to her right. The sun caught and reflected off of the small corked jar which held four small pieces of the Shikon no Tama, making Yuka stare curiously.

"I think she will do fine! Being ill gives her a lot of time to lay in her bed and study." Ayumi said defensively, rolling her eyes at her negative friend whilst Eri simply gave a light giggle at the situation transpiring between the two of them. Yuka just sighed and crawled from her Indian-style sitting position on to the computer chair, nosily plucking the small jar of shards up from the desk and looking at them while Eri and Ayumi distracted themselves into a conversation.

"Wonder what these are…" Yuka mumbled to herself quietly, using one of her fingernails to tug the miniscule cork out of the small jar. She shook one of the shards into the palm of her hand and set the jar back down, peering at the tiny thing.

"Aiiiieeeee! You guys! Could someone open the door, this tray needs two hands!" Came Kagome's distressed cry from the other side of the bedroom door. Quickly going to Kagome's aid were Eri and Ayumi, while Yuka flushed and shoved the shard into her pocket, barely having enough time to toss the cork back into the jar and set it aside before Kagome emerged with four cups of steamy green tea and a small plate of home-made cookies.

"Arigato for the tea, Kagome-chan!" Yuka said, smiling cheerfully.

Word Count: 654.


	2. Foreign Territory

**A Paradoxal Mistake**

**A/N: **Yay, I love reviews. Keep 'em coming! Sorry it took me so long to update. I'm lousy with my muse sometimes.

_Chapter Two: Foreign Territory_.

One bare foot after the other stepped on to dry earth, upon a sun-dappled pathway deep within the woods nearest to Edo, Inuyasha's Forest. A twirl, skip and hop later and the young barefoot girl collided with a stone and immediately drew blood from her knee. "Clumsy human," scoffed a green toad not far from her right, shaking his head and wiping his left hand upon his ragged servant's kimono. He pulled a scrap piece of cloth from inside of his outfit, reaching forward to hand it to the girl who was now sitting up with tears caught up in her bottom eyelashes. "Sesshoumaru-sama would not be pleased to see tears. You're a big girl, wipe your knee and let us continue on." The kappa was generally not this kind with Rin though lately Sesshoumaru had been beating him for his sass at the girl. He was sure to be in trouble for returning her with a wound on her knee now, too.

"Arigato, Jakken-dono." Said the girl politely, taking the cloth and pressing it to her knee before sniffling and wiping her eyes. She handed the cloth back rather stiffly before carefully picking herself up off of the ground and wiping her dirty hands across her yellow and orange checkered kimono. It was growing too short for her; the small girl frowned as she examined the length. It was nearly time to ask Sesshoumaru for a new traveling kimono to wear.

"Don't mention it." Jakken said with a glare, folding his arms around the Staff of Two Heads and shuffling forward. "Ah-Un! Come on now, Sesshoumaru-sama will beat us all for tardiness." Rin only laughed at Jakken playfully and scampered ahead again, forgetting already about the scrape on her knee. Ah-Un, a giant two-headed dragon equipped with a saddle, reigns and muzzles trod forward with both heads lowered obediently. They were an odd threesome: a toad, a two headed dragon and an eight-year-old human girl.

"Jakken-dono, where _is_ Sesshoumaru-sama?" Rin asked bluntly as they walked. "Is there a place he intended for us to meet him?"

"Until you decided to inconvenience us with your _hunger_ we would have still been with him! He walked on because I had to feed you. We're in Inuyasha's region, as he seeks his half-brother." The toad explained unhappily, marching forward along the pathway.

"Why does he seek Inuyasha?"

"Will you stop pestering me?"

"But Jakken! They always fight!"

"Perhaps then, he will kill Inuyasha. I do not know of his intention!"

"He does not seek Tetsusaiga anymore, does he?"

"Rin! Shut up!"

"Maybe I will see Kohaku. Or Shippou." The girl huffed and folded his arms across her chest, walking forward and carefully making sure to 'accidentally' bump Jakken down onto his face as she walked by him. The two headed dragon only tilted one head down to sniff the toad as he walked forward, following closely after the young girl. "Ah-Un, you will pick flowers with me later, okay?" She babbled on uselessly, content with only the one head that seemed to be paying any attention to what she had to say about flower necklaces, hats and braiding.

Not much longer later the group emerged from the forest path into a sunlit meadow. The grass was very long and swayed tenderly with the soft breeze. Nearer to the middle stood Sesshoumaru as rigid as ever, bearing the same clothing as usual – white hakama, a white haori with many silk layers and a blue honeycomb design upon the right shoulder and wide sleeve, a yellow and blue obi was tied skillfully around his waist with black spiked armor finishing the outfit. Two swords hung at his hip, a slender and useless one by the name of Tenseiga, and a powerful demon blade called Tokijin. Tilting his head slightly he turned, narrowing his honey eyes and cocking a slender brown in the direction of the trio skipping his way at an increasing speed.

"Sesssssshoumaru-saaaama!" Rin sang, skipping more quickly to reach her lord faster. "We have found you!"

Word Count: 674.


	3. Sesshoumaru

**A Paradoxal Mistake**

**A/N: **Here goes another one for ya!

_Chapter Three: Sesshoumaru._

"Sayonara, Kagome-chan!" Chimed three girls simultaneously, waving their arms in the air enthusiastically as they sped down the shrine steps each one avoiding falling with every stride they carefully took. Though it was still daylight out, the three friends had been shoo'd out of the house by Kagome who had said she was suddenly feeling quite feverish, that one of her infections might be acting up to give her such feelings. The girls took the bait and had eagerly left, while wishing their friend to be well again.

Kagome heaved her front door shut once her friends were out of sight and leaned heavily with her back against it. "Yeesh!" She cried out exasperatedly. "I love my friends, but Inuyasha is going to kill me for being so late today!" With that said, Kagome trotted off into the kitchen to wish her mother good-bye. She plucked her giant already packed yellow bag off of the table and swung it over her shoulders, visibly wincing at the weight of it. '_I'm going to be riddled with back problems, I swear…'_ she thought, sighing.

As she left the room after kissing her mother on the cheek, she placed her hands around her mouth and shouted upstairs to her sleeping grandfather – who would likely be awake now – and gaming brother. "Good bye! See you again in a few weeks!" That was that, a few moments later and Kagome Higurashi was throwing the well-house door open and vanishing into an era that was not her own, to battle demons and share her modern ninja food with her half-demon love.

Not that he needed to know that, he just needed to wolf down the chips and soda she had bought rather than scold her for being so tardy.

"Uhg, oops! I forgot something at Kagome's." Yuka said regretfully. "It can't wait until tomorrow." She added, pointing her finger up at Eri who was surely going to say something along those lines.

"What could you have forgotten that is so important?" Ayumi asked, folding her arms over her chest. They were standing a few blocks away from the shrine now, waiting for a street light to change so that they could cross.

"Uh, my cell phone." She lied. The guilt eating away at her chest was unbearable – she had _stolen_ something from her beloved and now sick friend. She just had to turn around and give the shard back, didn't she? "Ah," she said, pointing up as the street light changed and a white 'walk' signal flashed at the other end of the crosswalk. "Don't wait up for me, I'll walk home myself!" She said, waving her hand and was already turned and walking in the direction of the shrine again before her two friends had any input on the situation.

Eri shrugged. "If she says so," and three became two, as the girls walked on and went home.

It took her a while to return to the shrine as climbing up the stairs took the wind out of her. "All for this stupid pink thing, what _is_ this thing, anyway?" She wondered out loud. They must have been somewhat significant, as they were protectively jarred up and the girl vaguely remembered seeing them tied around Kagome's neck occasionally. The jewel fragment was between Yuka's thumb and forefinger as she absently walked, not necessarily paying much attention to where she was going.

She had indeed ended up stubbing her toe on a wooden stair and ended up cursing over the shock of pain that radiated through the entirety of her small foot. Stuffing the shard back into her pocket and brushing her green school uniform skirt down flat, she huffed. "What is this now?" She said out loud, staring at the half open door of what seemed like a wooden shack. It was the old well-house that kept the Bone Eater's well safe and pristine; though it seemed that having the door half open didn't stop the cat from sauntering in like he had owned it.

"Aie! Buyo! I'm sure you're not allowed in there!" Yuka said, stepping up the stairs and into the house. She glared around the windowless shed and frowned. "Damn thing, there's no light in here!" No light meant that it was hard to see, it also meant that the flight of stairs leading down into the center of the well-house went unnoticed by Yuka until she was falling down them. In a scrambling attempt to catch herself the woman basically flew down the old well with a screech, tears of fright immediately finding their way to her eyes and her body tensing up so hard she thought she might seize that way forever.

She didn't hit anything hard, and when a strange tingling overwhelmed her physically she was sure she had hit her head very, _very_ hard and had been knocked out right on the spot without remembering. Blinking her eyes wildly in the darkness, after closing them once and reopening them she realized that the darkness had vanished and she was suddenly gently seated on what appeared to be the bottom of a well-lit, dried up old well. She stared upward and noticed that the roof was gone. Her heart thumped. Well, that wasn't right, now was it?

"Sesssssshoumaru-saaaama! We have found you!"

A child's voice? Yuka blinked and frowned. She had definitely hit her head and must have been in some dream now. Carefully lifting herself up on to her feet she leaned against the stone wall of the well and clutched her stomach to attempt to waive off a sudden burst of nausea. "Seeshoumaru, who the heck is _Sesshoumaru_?" She said to herself very quietly, not realizing that just over the lip of the well a few meters to the left stood the most powerful demon lord in all of Japan.

A sudden scent of a strange human insulted his nostrils (something similar to the scent Kagome carried with her) and the demon lord grunted briefly, moving himself to peer over the edge of the well. "You address this Sesshoumaru, well-dweller?" He asked his voice frigid and baritone and unlike any Yuka had ever heard. Her eyes nearly bulged at the sight of the handsome man leaning slightly to peer down at her. His long silver hair gleamed, but the rest of him was a silhouette against the somewhat darkening sky above them.

"Don't just stand there! Can you help me out of this… well, this well!"

Word Count: 1,081.


	4. Edo

**A Paradoxal Mistake**

**A/N: **Here's my disclaimer… all of Inuyasha & co belong to their appropriate creators, writers, animators, etc.

Forgot this bit at the beginning, I suppose. Also, Sesshoumaru is extremely difficult to keep in character for this pairing, aha oh my.

_Chapter Four: Edo_.

To the shock of Jakken, Rin and even Ah-Un the dragon one stony demon lord bent and extended his arm elegantly into the old dried up well, his posture remaining perfect as he pulled a strange human girl out. Yuka's eyes were wide still, and the smell of tears was evident to the demon's sensitive nose. She flattened her green skirt, adjusted her thick yellow headband and cautiously took five wide steps backward and around the edge of the well.

She had never seen such a creature, with such long hair, weird tattoos and even plastic surgery to have his ears pointed? Were those _claws_ she had seen on his hand when he had previously offered it to her? No. This was all a dream and she had hit her head, which was what had definitely happened. "Thanks there, weird dream guy." She said nonchalantly, licking her lips nervously before dropping her sights onto the large beast that stood dangerously close to what looked like a _normal_ human being. The shrill noise of her shriek had Jakken covering his ears and wincing, while the demon lord allowed a short, deep snarl to emit from the depths of his throat.

"Silence." He commanded sternly, narrowing his eyes on the strange woman. She had to be of relations to Kagome, who had recently been in the area, so his nose told him. "Tell me, why were you in the bottom of the dry well?" He asked her, raising one very slender eyebrow.

"I fell, and hit my head. Definitely hit my head." Yuka stammered, stepping back again and her voice was now riddled with fear and anxiety. "Kagome-chan, Buyo.., the cat, he went into the old shrine house and I fell down the stairs and hit my head. I'm dreaming all of this up. This isn't Tokyo, hell, is this even Japan?"

"You are in the region of Edo, in Japan." Jakken squawked from where he stood, clutching on to the staff of heads. "My Lord, why do you let this nuisance live so long? The Inuyasha-tachi doesn't need another poorly dressed harlot." It was true; her skirt was rather short.

"Let me _live_?" Yuka rounded, but made a face when she realized what terrible little creature had been talking. She mumbled a brief '_uhg ew!_' under her breath before gazing in the direction of the very tall silver-haired male. "Inuyasha-tachi? Kagome's jealous, two-timing boyfriend?" She asked curiously, placing her hand on her hip. "Edo." She allowed the word to roll from her tongue, attempting to search through the deepest recesses of her braid for old history lessons. "Are you trying to imply that I'm… in ancient Tokyo – uh, sorry – Edo?" Her eyes popped open to wide that it was comparable to Jakken's own bulgy eyes.

"And do you imply that there is a time where Edo is called Tokyo in the late future?" Sesshoumaru questioned her, raising his other eyebrow now in a quizzical manner. This woman sounded like she had gone off her rocker to be quite frank, though her similarities to the miko Kagome in personality were uncanny and difficult.

"I don't imply it! I'm from modern-day Tokyo! You know, streets, cars, television, satelites…" She flipped a strange device out from her clothing, tapping its screen and then holding it high above her head. "_Cellphone service!" _She heaved a sigh and placed it away again. "I really did hit my head too hard."

The demon lord was simply staring at Yuka now, observing her strange ways and becoming rather curious about the strange device she carried, her odd scent and the words she had just used that he had been very unfamiliar with. He frowned suddenly and turned away from Yuka to peer at his odd pack. It was getting late. "We will camp here. Jakken, take Rin to bathe and eat." The kappa frowned, but bowed.

"Hai, Sesshoumaru-sama. Shall I bring anything?" A grunt lead Jakken to believe no, and he scurried off quickly into the forests which were growing heavy with darkness. Ah-Un followed for good measure.

"How are you aware of my half-brother, Inuyasha?"

"Like I said, he's Kagome's two-timing cheat of a boyfriend." She paused. "She talks about him all the time and he was at her house a few weeks ago working for Kagome's family."

"Hn." Sesshoumaru replied with and began to move away from the well and across the meadow that still remained lit with the last rays of the glowing sun.

"Hey now, hey! You know them, you said she was here recently – Kagome that is – will you take me to her?"

A smile crossed Sesshoumaru's face before twisting into a smug sneer. "You ask this Sesshoumaru to lead you to Kagome?"

"That's exactly what I asked!" Yuka said exasperatedly, hands on hips once more.

This woman was either brave or extremely stupid. Ignorance might have been the largest playing factor, however she was demanding that he, the demon lord of the West whom hated humans take her to his enemy and half-brother's wench. Certainly very stupid. "You truly are unaware of what this world holds." He said, slowly lowering himself into a seated position, leaning between a rock and an upturned root to press his back comfortably against a tree's base.

"It's obviously a dream, so whatever this world holds is what's in my own head. Trust me, I'm not very creative." She assured, although was impressed with herself for imagining Inuyasha's weird half-brother, a dragon and whatever that toad was.

"You may follow us. We will cross paths with Inuyasha sometime." His curiosity for her apparent 'future' was the only thing that kept his tolerance for her irritable voice and existence high. He motioned liquidly to the ground. "Sleep."

Strangely, Yuka found herself settling on to the grass and closing her eyes. She wasn't reluctant to listen at all because she looked rather forward to waking up and being out of this bizarre dream-land.

Word Count: 995.


	5. Tsushima Leopard

**A Paradoxal Mistake**

**A/N: **Argh sorry for the late update. Summer's busy and all. Anyway thanks for reviews, favorites and follows!

_Chapter Four: Tsushima Leopard_.

Sesshoumaru had left all of his responsibilities behind him in order to pursue a way to better himself. He, demon lord of all things Western, did not particularly need bettering; however given the circumstances he was quite sure he needed Tetsusaiga. His missing arm was beginning to weigh down on him dreadfully so and although the demon lord could not feel self-consciousness its absence did indeed bother him. His half breed brother needed to be euthanized and his sword stolen, although it was incredibly difficult to wield, being as Sesshoumaru did not have an ounce of human in him. Nor did he have the will to protect any humans – or did he?

He glanced over to where Rin was safely tucked against Jakken, both of the small beings leaning against a tree while Yuka remained asleep by the fire that had died long into the hours of the night. He stared at his human companions and wondered briefly if he was going soft so quickly into his first stages of adulthood. Narrowing his eyes and pressing that unfortunate thought into the back of his mind the demon lord watched the sleeping girl in utter silence, hearing the soft inhale and exhale escape from her slightly parted lips, the soft snore that she emitted occasionally when her head was lolled too far to the left. He noticed that her yellow hairpiece was lopsided and falling off of her head due to her shifting during her night's rest, the way her skirt was shifted far too high up her skinny, smooth and milky looking thigh and how her uniform's red tie was disheveled.

His golden eyes gleamed in the soft morning light as the sun made it's way slowly over the horizon, cascading a soft glow over the dew soaked blades of grass. Songbirds flittered from tree to tree; singing amongst themselves in a tune that only they could understand yet was pleasing to the ears of other forest-dwelling creatures. It was right them, as a particularly high note caught his ear, that he realized he had been _staring_ at the human woman. His gaze adverted and suddenly his senses snapped back into the reality of the warm summer morning and he lifted his head regally with his nose in the air, casually inhaling all of the scents around them one catching his attention more so than others.

Not far from the campsite resided three tsushima leopard demons, two of which were very primitive looking, much like the wolves in Kouga's pack. The most human of the three leant down and stalked through the bushes with his aura pulled against himself in an attempt to mask his presence. The demon was spotted all over, and although he stood at an average 5'6" tall for a human and wore clothing to cover his legs and chest, he very much resembled the leopard that he was. His hair was bright red with stripes of brown and black and was cut in a very short and wild fashion while more rounded ears stuck from the sides of his head. His eyes were wide and green and a fangy smirk was worn in a dangerously smug manner.

"The one with silver hair is the one we want, kill the rest." He instructed his comrades with raised furry eyebrows before moving to strike, his legs lifting him into the trees swiftly as he bounded from branch to branch in the direction of the demon lord himself who was still seated rather comfortably against the tree that he had slept beside.

Around the campsite the bushes shook as the two cats leapt into view on all fours with their large fangs bearing, ears forward and tails raised. They were much bigger than the true tsushima leopard, and much more intimidating as one gave out a horrendous hissing roar, causing Rin to awaken with a scream. "Sesshoumaru-sama!" She shrieked, waking Yuka, Ah-Un and Jakken in the process. "We're under attack!"

"Humans," scoffed the humanoid demon from a branch high above the group his smirk widening and his eyes gleaming maliciously. "what use are they?" He leapt down, landing mere inches away from Yuka who was crouched in the grass with eyes as wide as saucers, her mouth hanging open stupidly. "Although this one's rather pretty," he bent forward and grasped her hanging jaw with a clawed hand, roughly pulling her face upward for him to view. The points of his claws drew blood from her cheeks and he uncomfortably moved her face from side to side to get a good look at her. "I wasn't aware that you were interested in human whores, Sesshoumaru-" he paused and threw Yuka down into the dirt. "_sama_."

Was this demon invading his camp, abusing his party and _mocking_ him? Sesshoumaru sat and watched boredly, the expression on his face unchanging as Yuka desperately scrambled backward on her rear to collect Rin into her arms, Jakken standing in front of the two humans. "State your business or leave." The demon lord said his voice baritone and booming with finality.

"My business? Why, it's to kill you of course."

Word Count: 855.

**Note:** The Tsushima leopard cat is actually a critically endangered animal in Japan.


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